Palestine Islands
Maha (12) is of the last generation of Palestinian refugees from the Balata camp. After her grandfather has a fainting spell, she imagines a crazy project: to make him believe the wall of separation has fallen and he can return to his native land. With the help of her friends from the camp, she takes her blind grandfather on a ride…
- Country: Palestina / State of Palestine, Jordan
- Year: 2023
- Length: 22
- Language: Arabisk / Arabic
- Director: Nour Ben Salem, Julien Menanteau
- Script: Nour Ben Salem, Julien Menanteau
- Photography: Eric Devin
- Editing: Manon Falise
- Sound: Dani Masaadeh, Valère Raigneau
- Music: Jack Bartman, Nassim Kouti
- Production design: Ayoub Nahhas
- Costume: Lora Nasser
- Cast: Sama Idreesi, Kamel El Basha
- Producer: Bastien Daret, Arthur Goisset, Robin Robles
- Production company: Topshot Films, Made in Palestine Project
- Contact: festivals(at)manifest.pictures
Nour Ben Salem, Julien Menanteau
After a master’s degree in cinema at the Sorbonne and a TV series course at La Fémis, Nour Ben Salem worked as a scriptwriter for television and cinema. She co-wrote the feature film Hard Shell, Soft Shell (2021) directed by Emma Benestan, as well as several episodes of the series Reign Supreme for Arte/Netflix. Palestine Islands is her first work as a director.
After studying cinema in Montreal and at the Sorbonne, Julien Menanteau directed his first short film Rikishi (2017), followed by Samaritan (2018), a creative documentary about a unique minority in the Middle East, shot over a two-year period in Palestine. Broadcast on Arte, the film won a star from the SCAM. Menanteau is currently in production with his first fiction feature film Lads, produced by Gloria Films.